Publication

This publication challenges the assumption that Africa is trapped by its poverty and that aid is necessary if Africa is to escape the trap. The author suggests an alternative assumption: that Africa is caught in an institutional trap, signaled and reinforced by the small share of income of its independent middle-income population. The publication goes on to argue that if external aid is to be helpful for institution-building in Africa’s weak and fragile states, donors need not to provide more aid but to minimize the risks more aid poses for this group in Africa.